Mere sapno ki rani kab aayegi thoo - 2

Appan usually enjoyed his ride home, especially on a summer evening. The breeze got cooler as Appan started to pedal faster, something that he couldn't do with the regulatorless rickety table fan that adorned his modest two-room home. The road home was the first tar road to be built in the district. It was sheer bliss, newly laid, spotlessly clean except for some patches of dry dung deposited by some rather unappreciative bovine. However, Appan's current predicament made him least bothered about the road, the ride or the breeze. He was getting engaged in two weeks and he had no clue about the girl he was getting engaged to.Appan knew that this whole episode had something to do with his mother, despite the letter being written and signed by his father. Appan's mother was the kind of person who always worked behind the scenes. She was a very deceptive woman and conveyed the impression of just another dimunitve and powerless housewife. But as far as Appan's household was concerned every decision was conceptualized in the kitchen and implemented in the living room (his rifle toting father's bastion). So Appan's mother always had this knack of making her husband believe that he was still the Colonel, but in actuality he was still the soldier carrying out orders. However, Appan had to admit that he never remembered his mother making a wrong decision. But, this was his marriage and he couldn't let it to his mother's judgment. He had to see the girl and talk to her before he committed to marry her.

Appan was trying hard to remember if he had seen Kathiresan Chettiar's daughter in any of the events that he recently attended. The only images that he seemed to recollect were of the enormous Kathiresan Chettiar, who strongly resembled a beached whale. Infact people called him "Gundu Kolukatta Chettiar" behind his back, not because of Kathiresan Chettiar's affinity for the delicacy, but his imposing jelly belly. Appan just hoped that obesity wasn't something that was hereditary in the Kathiresan household. The flurry of thoughts didn't slow down Appan as he reached home five minutes earlier than usual. Just as Appan was opening the gate, a bright red lambretta zoomed past him. Appan considered the lambretta yet another ugly reminder of the "The License Raj Economy".The lambretta was regarded as a princely possession, as the waiting list to get the scooter was 7 years. The people who managed to bypass the list either had strong political connections or had enough money to cough up for a second hand lambretta. A second hand lambretta, was usually no more than 2 or 3 months old. The second hand buyer was willing to pay twice its original value as he didn't have the patience for such long waiting lists.

The lambretta that zoomed past Appan reminded him of his cousin Chandru and his "JL" . Chandru was a mine of information when it came to women, cinema and politics. He would be able to shed light on Appan's would be. Chandru was a production manager at the AVM film studios, the nation's second largest movie production house located in Madras. He led a very glamorous life as the nature of his work enabled him to have a working relationship - his wife made sure it was a very strict working relationship when it came to those beautiful actresses- with most of the top movie stars on an everyday basis. Since politics and cinema went hand in hand in Madras*, Chandru had friends who were friends of politicians, which explained "JL". Chandru named his Lambretta JL because he was smitten by the sultry actress JothiLakshmi, who, despite all her flab had quite a large fan following in South India.It brought a smile to Appan's face because Chandru's wife thought that by calling it "JL", Chandru was paying homage to the late prime minister and freedom fighter JawaharLal Nehru.

Appan felt a lot better as he decided to place a trunk call to Chandru's office first thing in the morning and get to know more about -"Kathireswoman"- (for the lack of a name he decided to her Kathireswoman) tomorrow.

To be continued

Gundu: Gundu in Tamil means fat

Kolukattai: A chubby South Indian sweet delicacy. It looks like this

Chettiars: A tamil speaking community whose origins are in Chettinad, Tamilnadu. More here.
Gundu Kolukattai Chettiar:

*The last two Chief Ministers of Tamilnadu were leading playwrights/script writers (C.N Annadurai-1967 to 1969 and M. Karunanidhi- 1969 to 1971)

Note: India's first scooter appeared in the market place in 1972 whereas this story takes place in 1971. Please bear with the inconsistency :).